Paper Mario: Cataclysm
by Rgarber
Summary: After Bowser unearths an ancient weapon of destruction known as the Cataclysm's Edge, Mario and Luigi must journey across a Koopa-controlled Mushroom Kingdom to find seven Zero-Point Stars.


Four Koopatrols walked up a tunnel, dragging a large steel crate behind them. They reached the entrance of the tunnel, where a large amount of Hammer Bros, Magikoopas, other Koopas, and King Bowser Koopa himself were waiting. One of the Koopatrols let go of the crate, kneeled before Bowser, and said, "My liege…the Cataclysm's Edge."

Bowser gazed at the steel crate for what seemed like ages. After so long, the weapon which would help him bring Plit to chaos had been unearthed. He opened the crate and slowly grabbed the weapon from it. The Cataclysm's Edge was a sword with a red-orange handle. The actual blade was silver steel, with black markings on the edge of it and red-orange spots dotted around the sword which seemed to look like magma. There was just one thing left to do. "Take me to the temple," Bowser said.

The Magikoopas cast a spell, teleporting Bowser a few miles away to a large temple, which looked kind of like a Greek temple. The color of the temple was marble-white, with large gray columns outside. Bowser, gripping the Cataclysm's Edge, began walking inside the temple…and was suddenly stopped by a beam of light in front of him! Bowser looked away and covered his eyes, before looking back and seeing Geno standing before him.

"Enough!" Geno said. "This ends here, Bowser!"

Bowser evilly chuckled and said, "Step aside, star warrior. The Cataclysm's Edge is not fully powered yet, but what power it does have is more than enough to destroy you!"

"Bowser," Geno said, "you toy with powers beyond reckoning! If left unchecked, you will destroy the universe, and with it, yourself! That is the very reason the Cataclysm's Edge was buried!"

"The previous wielders were weak," Bowser said. "They didn't know how to control the Edge. But I do. Now, step aside, or I will destroy you!"

"You can try," Geno said. Geno executed his Geno Flash ability, transforming into a large cannon and shooting a large ball of energy at Bowser. Bowser held up the Cataclysm's Edge, the large blade effortlessly deflecting the energy orb. Geno transformed back into his doll form, but was punched by Bowser, who had used his Sliding Punch ability. Bowser then grabbed Geno, uppercut him into the air, and smashed the star warrior with his fist, slamming Geno into a temple wall.

Geno struggled to get up, but didn't have enough energy, and simply slumped into the wall. Bowser towered over the defeated warrior, his face full of pride. "One attack," Bowser said. "One attack is all you managed to pull off, and it didn't even hit me. You disappoint me, Geno. I thought you were stronger than that. The Cataclysm's Edge empowers me to this level of strength when it's not even fully activated! Imagine how strong I'll be when I finally do activate it."

Coughing up words, Geno asked, "Why don't you simply kill me and get it over with?"

"Simple," Bowser said. "The goal bestowed upon you was to prevent a tragedy like the one I am about to unleash. I will keep you alive to the very end. I don't want you to miss out on the destruction caused by your failure."

"Mario will stop you," Geno said. "You have to know that."

"There's one problem with your logic," Bowser said. He walked inside the temple, dragging Geno along with him. Inside the temple was a simple stone altar. Bowser placed the Cataclysm's Edge sword on the altar. The altar lit up with the luminosity of ten lightbulbs. The sword levitated into the air, glowing brightly. Beams of energy shot from the corners of the altar into the Cataclysm's Edge, and the blade changed color to a dark, blood red. Bowser grabbed the Cataclysm's Edge and sheathed it. Bowser's skin changed from its normal color to a dark red, his shell and eyes also changing color. His spikes and horns changed to a pure black color. His stomach and snout also became shaded darker, but not nearly to the same extent as his spikes. Geno shuddered at the monstrosity before him. Outside, the land changed color from green to a color in between black and purple, and the sky changed from the orange of sunset to pure darkness. "I AM UNSTOPPABLE!" Bowser roared.

Hundreds of miles away, Mario and Luigi stood on their balcony, watching the changes in the world unfold. "What's happening?" Luigi asked.

"It probably has something to do with Bowser," Mario said. "Whatever it is, he's raising the stakes much higher than last time."

Suddenly, Eldstar teleported just behind the Mario Bros. "Mario! Luigi!" the elder Star Spirit said.

"Eldstar!" Mario said. "What's going on?"

"Come with me," Eldstar said. "It's not safe here." Eldstar teleported himself, Mario, and Luigi dozens of miles above ground, to Star Haven. The trio emerged just outside of the main palace. "Quickly, inside," Eldstar said. The three ran inside the Star Palace.

Mario looked around and asked, "Where are the other Star Spirits?"

"They have left," Eldstar said, "to attempt to transport as many civilians as they can up here, where they will be safe from the impending cataclysm."

"Okay, okay," Luigi said, "time to spill the beans. What's going on?"

Eldstar said, "Bowser and his Koopa Troop have unearthed a relic of unspeakable power: the Cataclysm's Edge, a sword crafted by the ancestors of millennia ago. Alone, the sword would've multiplied his strength ten times, enough to defeat anyone on this planet besides you two and us Star Spirits. However, in order to unlock its full strength, one must place it on the altar at Pantheon Temple, a place of worship for the same ancient ones who crafted the sword. Bowser did just that. Now, he is powerful enough to defeat all three of us combined a hundred times over without breaking a sweat."

"So he's invincible?" Mario asked.

"There is currently no weapon in the world which can match the power of the activated Cataclysm's Edge," Eldstar said. "The key word is 'currently'. You see, this same civilization that crafted the Cataclysm's Edge used things called Zero-Point Stars, which extracted power from a different dimension called the Zero-Point Domain, to meet their enormous energy needs. Only a few such devices still exist in the world. However, if you can find seven of them, I can use them to craft a sword rivaling the might of the Cataclysm's Edge! Then, you can stop Bowser, and bring peace back to the world."

"Great!" Luigi exclaimed. "Where do we start?"

"Ah, well…" Eldstar said, "the truth is, no one knows where exactly where the Zero-Point Stars are. Several theories about their whereabouts have been discussed, but no one theory has ever gotten close to being proven. The most credible theory is that a Zero-Point Star rests underneath the sands of Dry, Dry Desert, even farther below than Dry, Dry Ruins. Perhaps you should investigate this theory first."

A voice suddenly rang out through the palace. "Bwahahaha! I heard everything! Thanks for telling me the only thing that can stop me!" Suddenly, Bowser materialized out of thin air!

"Bowser!" Mario and Luigi exclaimed.

"Ah, the Mario Bros," Bowser said. "Do you dare challenge my might?" He began to unsheathe the Cataclysm's Edge.

"Mario! Luigi!" Eldstar shouted. "I will hold him off! Escape while you can!"

Bowser shot a wall of flame at the Mario Bros, but Eldstar dashed in front of it and barely managed to deflect it. Mario and Luigi ran outside of Star Palace and jumped inside a Star Cruiser parked nearby. They zoomed off, past Star Haven and towards Dry, Dry Desert. "Phew," Luigi said, wiping his brow.

"It's not over yet!" Mario said. Bowser materialized a few dozen yards behind the Star Cruiser, levitating in midair.

"You thought you could escape my wrath?" Bowser shouted. "Eldstar was no match for me! You're next!" Bowser zoomed off, chasing the Star Cruiser.

"He's gaining on us fast!" Luigi said.

Mario steered the Star Cruiser to the right, just barely avoiding a fireball Bowser shot at them. "I wonder if this thing has any weapons!" he said.

"Try this!" Luigi said, pointing to a red button with a star marking on it. Mario pressed it, and a small torpedo tube emerged from the bottom of the craft. A glowing, star-shaped missile shot out and slammed straight into Bowser's noggin, causing an extremely large explosion which melted some of the paint on the Star Cruiser. Bowser was surprised, but unharmed.

"Grah!" Bowser roared. "That's it! It's time for this to end!" Bowser began charging up a huge fireball.

Luigi looked back and shrieked. He quickly asked Mario, "How close are we to Dry, Dry Desert?!"

"Not close enough!" Mario replied, just before a wall of flame shot out from Bowser's mouth and completely incinerated the Star Cruiser. Mario and Luigi fell like shooting stars to the ground, creating two small explosions and craters when they finally hit land. Mario weakly looked to where Luigi landed, just to make sure his younger brother survived the fall, and then fell unconscious.

Meanwhile, Bowser landed somewhere near the center of the desert, next to a Koopa encampment, and was fuming. "Grah! How do they always evade me?! Whether it's another person covering them or my flame wall just so happening to hit their little ship instead of them, they always escape!"

A tall Koopa with a pure black shell walked up to Bowser. "My liege, after we conquered the desert, we deployed dozens of scouts to search for any resistance. We could reassign the scouts to search for the Mario Bros instead."

"Yes. Do that, general," Bowser said. "Make sure the scouts bring Mario to me alive. I don't want him to miss out on the plunging of his world into darkness."

"Yes, my liege," the Koopa general said, bowing.

To Be Continued


End file.
